Charles Leclerc emerged as the quickest driver in the sole practice session for the Miami Grand Prix, benefitting from a heavily upgraded Ferrari package that appears to have unlocked additional performance. His two fastest laps were sufficient to outpace Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by just under three‑tenths of a second, suggesting that Mercedes may no longer hold the outright speed advantage as the weekend moves toward the sprint‑qualifying session scheduled for 9:30 p.m.
on Friday, broadcast live on Sky Sports F1. Leclerc’s pace was impressive not only because of the raw lap times but also because it came after a weekend of extensive development work across the grid.
Ferrari introduced eleven new components, including a revised floor and updated suspension geometry, which seem to have generated extra downforce and improved cornering stability. The result was a car that felt both more planted and more responsive, allowing the Monegasque driver to extract a blistering rhythm in the 90‑minute practice window.
Behind Leclerc, Oscar Piastri in the McLaren finished third, while his teammate Lando Norris looked even more competitive. Norris was only a fraction of a second off Leclerc’s best time before he was impeded by traffic and a close encounter with Williams driver Alex Albon.
Had Norris enjoyed a clean lap, he could have been within striking distance of the Ferrari, highlighting how tightly matched the front runners are after a week of upgrades. Lewis Hamilton, representing Mercedes, trailed his teammate by 0.467 seconds and remained consistently slower than the Ferrari throughout the session. This mirrors the pattern observed at the previous race in Japan, where Hamilton also struggled to match the pace of his own car’s best potential.
The gap underscores the challenges Mercedes faces despite having secured victories in the first three rounds of the 2026 season and maintaining an unbeaten record in competitive sessions. Mercedes’ upgrade list this weekend was notably modest compared to rivals. The Silver Arrows only received a revised front corner and a new rear‑pipe, while rivals such as McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari introduced completely new floor designs. The limited scope of Mercedes’ work may explain the relative lack of outright speed, especially as the team continues to grapple with a power‑unit anomaly reported by George Russell.
Russell described hearing a strange, steam‑engine‑like noise emanating from the turbo, a symptom that could indicate a deeper reliability issue. The power‑unit concern is likely to dominate Mercedes’ engineering discussions ahead of the sprint‑qualifying. While Russell managed a sixth‑place best lap, he was still eight‑tenths of a second off the leading time set by Antonelli, who posted his quickest effort on the hard tyre compound after a technical issue prevented a soft‑tyre run.
Antonelli currently leads the Drivers’ Championship by nine points over Russell, but the German team’s weekend may be compromised if the turbo problem persists. Sky Sports F1 analyst Karun Chandhok questioned Mercedes’ weekend strategy, asking whether the team had hidden upgrades or whether Russell was deliberately holding back due to a setup issue. The uncertainty adds intrigue, as three other teams – Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull – appear ready to challenge the traditional dominance of the Silver Arrows. The five‑week hiatus since the Japanese Grand Prix gave every constructor ample time to develop.
Aston Martin was the only team that did not bring new parts to Miami, while Ferrari’s extensive upgrade list paid dividends in the form of Leclerc’s dominant performance. The new floor and suspension appear to have generated a noticeable increase in downforce, especially in the high‑speed sections of the circuit, allowing the Ferrari to maintain higher cornering speeds without sacrificing straight‑line power. McLaren also arrived with a substantially revised package.
Their gains over Mercedes in Japan were evident again, and Norris’s strong showing in practice suggests that the team could be poised for a second victory at the venue where he secured his maiden Grand Prix win earlier in the 2024 season. Red Bull, meanwhile, remained roughly a second off the leaders on average, but the team hinted that they have narrowed the gap, potentially giving Verstappen a more balanced car capable of pushing harder in the sprint and the main race. Ferrari team principal Laurent Mekies emphasized that the practice session was primarily a self‑assessment exercise after a long break and significant car changes. He explained that the focus was on understanding how the new parts behaved rather than directly comparing themselves to rivals.
Mekies noted that in the previous races in China and Japan, both Max Verstappen and his teammate Isaac Pieters had been hampered by various issues, and Ferrari aimed to resolve those limitations to provide Verstappen with a car that could be pushed further. Looking ahead, the weekend schedule is packed with action: Friday features F2 qualifying at 7:25 p.m., a team‑bosses press conference at 8:10 p.m., and the Miami GP sprint‑qualifying at 9:30 p.m. Saturday includes the F2 sprint, a sprint‑build‑up show, the sprint race itself, and a series of pre‑qualifying shows leading up to the main qualifying session.
Sunday concludes with the F2 feature race, a build‑up program, the Grand Prix, and post‑race reaction segments. All events will be streamed live on Sky Sports F1, with the option to watch via the NOW platform without a long‑term contract. In summary, Leclerc’s fastest lap in a heavily upgraded Ferrari signals a potential shift in the competitive hierarchy as the 2026 season progresses. Mercedes, despite its early‑season success, faces technical setbacks that could jeopardise its sprint‑qualifying performance.
Meanwhile, McLaren and Red Bull continue to close the gap, setting the stage for a highly contested sprint and a thrilling main race in Miami. Fans can follow every session live on Sky Sports F1 or stream the coverage through NOW for flexible viewing.